I love having my business. Started it with $400 in 1989. Never had loans. Just received the largest project in my career…client is in Europe. Have another large client in Russia. One of my favorite things is wearing beautiful clothes..or at the least looking chic, or at the very least having a blow-out. And getting massages. For a while I have thought these to be very superficial. But after reading everyone’s posts, realize they aren’t. I reap much happiness supporting myself from my brain and talents. But I also appreciate the posts from mothers who have derived great joy from raising children. Each are special gifts. Not everyone needs to have the same gifts..just the same joy.

I was the Pediatric Social Worker in a large teaching hospital. I worked with children and families in an acute care setting.. Yes, it was sad sometimes, but these children and families taught me so much more about life than I had learned to that point. And yes, we laughed and shared moments of great joy as well as sorrow. I learned to listen and just be present sometimes. Some of the families have become life long friends. The incredible staff of Doctors, Nurses and support staff are still special to me after many years since I had to leave that job. There was never a day for those 15 years that I did not want to go to work. THAT is special.

Well it’s the first job my Dad made me quit. Look out Mary Wells : ) but I was hired at Doyle Dane & Bernbach in 1969 while I was still in High School. I had read the in the Business section of the L.A Times that they were opening a office in L.A. So being in a advertising student at Birmingham High in the San Fernando I naively thought I would just work for them the place I always read about.. They were my idols and Saul Bass was my God, I thought nothing of advertising being my passion, my friends were all movie fans big time but I could wait for the commercials or read ads in my Bible ‘Graphic Arts’. I wrote them a letter, to my amazement they answered back saying to call for a interview appointment, I think I dialing while still reading the letter still in my hands. My Mom had to drive me to Sunset Blvd. office building my Mom waited down in the lobby. I just walked in like a Miss Piggy into the a Honey Baked Ham store. Bur know they were all wonderful. And an actual advertising office I smelled the beautiful pencils in containers on the desks as if they were vases of flowers. Diane interviewed me I think, she looked at my work, I had won several awards, and she read my letter from my art teacher Mrs. Brooks, and of course after reading that any top agency would not think twice to hiring a 17 year old girl. Gads everyone should have had Mrs. Brooks as a teacher. I was hired starting the first monday after graduating. I was in advertising heaven, Mrs. Brooks was the proudest teacher in California. But then there was my mom and Dad. My Mom was apprehensive but my Dad was so very happy for me, he was a artist and animator at Disney’s he know how I felt. But still it was Dad that didn’t want his little girl going to Sunset Blvd. to work everyday. I had to call and quit before I had my Mary Richard’s moment. That summer I was a miserable teenager and my parents experienced how their precious little girl could resemble the girl in “The Bad Seed ” well not that bad I was a brunet. So I got an interview with the help from my Dad to work at the Disney Studio’s where else, Buena Vista Blvd. was a step up and a couple of miles away from Sunset. The man who headed the advertising department at the end of the meeting told me ” Your work is very nice, but we all ready hired a girl this year” oooooo. kkkkkk then…excussssse me ! Even today I wondered what would have happened the ‘what if’s’ haunted me through every job I took. Oh gees wizzzzzz, holy molly, could I have ended up living in New York ?. Could I have had a friend named Mary Wells ? (Mary thinking not a chance honey….) That was the best job I ever had, for the 2 weeks until I actually had to show up.

The best jobs I ever had were after retirement. I was a CASA volunteer for 4 years. Now I am a golf coach for Special Olympics and love every minute of it. Also makes you very humble……

The best job was being a part of the all-star cast for the Award-winning miniseries BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. Everyone on the set was notable - the sets were fabulous and I wore an antique dress and special period hairdressing and I even had my own dressing room! Wow. Didn’t last long enough.

My job now - Dermatology RN. Two years ago the the genius E. Jean Carroll told me I have one of the best jobs in one of the most exciting areas in medicine. It took me two years to realize it, but she is right! Paraphrasing ‘Dearest Sabrina, unlocking the key to Vanity is the key to life.’ She said it way better, though.

Best job—-Mom to my fabulous boys! Most interesting?—9 different jobs I had at Kodak during my 13 yrs. there. It was the beginning of moving women into management and I learned a lot from some great men. I also encountered a lot of discrimination. Most interesting summer job—-a Washington Intern during the summer of 1971. Met a lot of the players in Washington and was able to go the hearings about the Pentagon Papers. Ah, to be young and in DC!! My later job as psychotherapist was the most rewarding. With my recent move out o f state I really miss it.

Believe it or not, I also tried my hand at being a paralegal in California for about four years after I returned to America after teaching English as A Second Language in Japan (Now, THAT was fun, as in “Book Material” fun.) I did not care for that as much as teaching. The attorneys seemed not to respect what we collectively accomplish, but only wanted me to complete an assignment for them, i.e., processing court documents. Yes, and I am absolutely enthralled by the comments submitted here today. I can fantasize how wonderful to would be to hold a soiree somewhere and meet all these fabulous contributors! Wouldn’t that be a blast! Hey, here is another wild thought… how about the educators amongst us putting together some kind of manual of sorts for the incoming President to consider for the new Education Secretary? With all our experience compiled, it would certainly be worth considering….we all know No Child Left Behind is not worth any more of our nation’s time or money.

ChefZee, Please add me to your list: starkids2@hotmail.com….please! JBoylynn

My best job was President of Mary Wells’ Ad Agency. It was well after she had left it but some of us who remembered tried to rekindle the spirit - I had done a stint years earlier, when Mary was still working at the Agency every day. It was as close to Hollywood as you could get—great Loretta Young staircases connecting the floors ..Billy Baldwin decor … wonderful art on the walls- not ads art. I loved that “we” knew the difference. The style, the talent, the clothes! and the best advertising in town. we said it had “star quality” and we were right. The women of Sex in the City had nothing on us. When I returned many years latter more than Mary was gone—a ressurrection was attempted, unsuccessfully. But it was fun trying… I had Mary’s old couch in my office and on a good day I could channel her and tell some fine stories.

The best job I ever had was Mom. It never compared with being a VP of Sales. Now the best job I have is Grammy - doesn’t compare with current consulting gigs.

My best job was working as a teacher, well, a substitute teacher! Frank’s got it, right. The salary may not be so great, but the rewards of seeing a kid “get” the idea of some subject matter, can’t be beat! I only wish I’d been able to get my degree earlier than I did and taught more years! Second best job, was working for a commercial photographer, being able to select and send out transparancies and slides to magazines was a blast. Putting them back wasn’t! ;) Here too, pay was lousy, but job was fun.

Hello French Heart. I too graduated from Stephens and then went to MU for a while. Belonged to the Prince of Wales Club and was a soloist for Stephens when the choir went on tour. Two jobs were best for me..One was commercial orchid grower. We had huge big greenhouses full of cymbidium orchids when we sold to wholesales in the Carpenteria, Calif. area. Hybridized some pure in color cymbidiums and won a Silver Medal with one of them at a show. Being an orchid grower is a lot of physically hard work as well as requiring a vast knowledge of orchid breeding. The best part was when the orchids were in bloom.. The greenhouses were so filled with flowers you couldn’t see the plants and on a moonlite night, it was a magical and enchanting place to be. I love flowers and growing plants… The second job and one dearest to my heart was breeding and showing Arabian and Half Arabian horses. We were small breeders but the horses we bred were very successful in the show ring. Yes, French Heart, took a 3 year old colt to Flag Is Up Farm and Monty Roberts did his horse whisperer thing with this young stud. Later this horse was successful at the race track and we had a great time. My favorite time was when the mares foaled out and there was a baby horse to love on. My mares were very generous about sharing their babies with us..I also love watching young horses learn..how to lead, how to have a bath, how to have feet picked up and handled, how to walk up into a trailer or walk quietly on the “hot walker”…How to carry a bit or have a little saddle put on their back. Because they have learned all along the way to trust you, they can move into all the things horses have to learn with confidence. I love the gentleness of Arabian stallions…they are wonderful. I recall one night when one of the mares had just foaled a lovely colt, when he struggled and got to his feet, he gave a very deep little nicker and he was answered by every stallion in the barn. “Welcome to the world little one..this is a good place to be born in.” Another night after one long and somewhat difficult birth, a beautiful filly was finally into this world.. and I walked out of the barn into a cold winters night to see the sky ablaze with a million stars..There was no moon or artificial light..just all those stars..So I named the filly Starry Night… I loved showing the horses in performance classes and selling an up and coming Champion to an eager and enthusiastic new owner and my horses never let us down. They upheld their family honor and our good reputation as breeders of fine horses. They went on to be winners for their new owners winning National Championships and other high honors. A wonderful time of any 24 hours was walking through the barn at night..Hearing the horses eating their hay…a soft nicker of recognition, or a soft nose pressed against your hand or cheek. We were never famous…or celebraties, but we knew love in some of its deepest and most enlightening aspects, from other life forms as well as the good people we came to know. These were the best jobs I ever had or ever could hope to have.